30/10/17 CORNERSTONE VISION SERIES WEEK 3 – UP (PART 1)

COMMUNITY GROUP/FAMILY AND DAILY STUDIES BASED UPON OUR VISION SERIES AT COMMUNITY CHURCH PUTNEY

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GROUP STUDY 3 – UP (PART 1)

THOSE BUILT ON CHRIST ARE PRIESTS AND TEMPLE

Your identity shapes you. What do you think you are created for? Career, power, pleasure, sex…? Your answer will shape your life. A Christian is created by God to worship Him.

WHAT IS WORSHIP?

‘Worship is all about reflecting the worth or value of God’ (Piper)

Anybody who has been joined to Jesus, having ‘tasted the lord’s goodness’, receiving a new heart and life by the Spirit, will become a priesthood and the Spirit’s temple – Christians are worshippers!

Let’s learn from Peter about worship:

• As we come to Jesus what do we become and for what purpose? (2:4-5)
• What does Peter say about our identity and purpose, and why is knowing this so vital? (2:5, 9-10)
• Who is a part of ‘God’s holy priesthood’?
• As priests, what is one of our major roles? (See 1 Pet 4:7; 1 Tim. 2:1-3)
• What are the dangers of creating a separate priesthood in the church?
• Peter says that we all offer ‘spiritual sacrifices’. This means:
1. They are from a person who is cleansed and born of the Spirit (Jn. 4:23)
2. What does Romans 12:1-2 say that spiritual worship is?
3. Peter 2:9 and Hebrews 13:15 say what about our worship?
4. What does Philippians 4:18 and Hebrews 13:16 teach about our use of wealth in regard to worship?

APPLICATION

LET’S LIVE OUT OF OUR IDENTITY AS PRIESTS AND TEMPLE

Spend some time in reflection and prayer. Are you living out your identity:

• Be built together ­– As a ‘living stone’ are you allowing God to build you into the local church?
• The spirit works as we meet – As the ‘Spirit’s house’ do you come to church or Community Group expecting to meet, and be used by Him?
• Live as a ‘holy priest’ – A Christian is a ‘holy priest’ which means to be set apart for God’s will. Are you seeking to serve God in all things? (Romans 12:1-2). As a priest are you devoted to prayer personally and with the church?

PERSONAL BIBLE STUDIES WEEK 3 – 1 PETER 1:22-2:6

MONDAY: LEARNING TO LOVE

1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.

1.  GC – Meditating and seeking to live out the truth of the gospel will, naturally, lead to Christ-like love. Let’s keep looking at the cross and living a Christ-like life.

2.    UP – It is worship to love. Doing the truth, not, knowing the truth, is worship!

3.    IN – Are your relationships marked by ‘sincere’ and ‘deep’ love? If we fail to meet together with our church family, we need to take this verse more seriously I think.

4.    OUT – Our relationships give authenticity to the gospel. (John 13:34-35)

TUESDAY: THE GOSPEL BRINGS EVERLASTING LIFE

1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

1.  GC – The message of the gospel – ‘Good news about salvation through Jesus’ is ‘living’! When believed, it has power, by the Spirit, to give regeneration – new birth

2.    UP – How often do we start the day by remembering and thanking God for new birth?

3.    IN – How could you use this verse to encourage a friend? 

4.    OUT – We can share the gospel, but let’s remain dependent upon the Holy Spirit – only He can give regeneration. The ‘word of God (gospel)’ is the means that the Holy Spirit uses to give regeneration – we must speak!

'Hope of ministry lies in the Spirit of God operating on the spirit of men.' Spurgeon

WEDNESDAY: CAST OFF FEAR AND CELEBRATE LIFE

1 Peter 1:24-25 For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.

1.  GC – The gospel’s (‘word that was preached’) regenerating work cannot die – you will never die. If we have believed in Jesus death and resurrection, we have everlasting life and restoration with God. (John 5:24)

2.    UP – How much does assurance of salvation feature in your worship? (Psalm 36:9)

3.    IN – Many fear death. Let’s be ready to use truth to help them. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

4.    OUT – This ‘word’ that was ‘preached’ – given by the Apostles, is the same gospel, centred on new life by the death of Christ, that we must communicate. (1 Cor. 15:3-4)

THURSDAY: LIVE WHAT THE GOSPEL HAS MADE YOU

1 Peter 2:1-3 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

1.  GC – Being Gospel-Centred is to live out of ones new identity.  This means that you ‘rid yourselves’ of certain things, and do new things that are in keeping with what the gospel has done in you. We are characterized as ‘newborn babies’ How is this new identity to affect what we do and what is the result?

2.  UP – Like a baby they are to crave God and His word. This is something they have already ‘tasted’ in the gospel. Use Psalm 42:1-2 as inspiration to worship.

3.  IN – Are there any attitudes and behaviour, harmful to building community that you need to ‘rid yourself of’? To love the church one must regularly put things off as God exposes them. This is done through prayer and filling ones mind with the truth; such as here, remembering our new birth and the Lord’s goodness.

4.  OUT – Passion overflows!  Those who know God’s goodness as a current experience will desire for others to know and love Him.

FRIDAY: BUILD ON JESUS AND HE WILL BUILD US TOGETHER

1 Peter 2:4-5 As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1.  GC – Jesus was ‘rejected’ and is now ‘living’ so that we could be become ‘living’.

2.  UP – Worship is ‘coming to Him’. Don’t let our worship be dependent upon styles of music, buildings, feeling… but make it all through and to Jesus.

3.  IN – As we build our lives on Jesus, He will give us a heart of loving devotion to the church so as to create a ‘spiritual house’, a community of worship.

4.  OUT – As a ‘priesthood’ are we making use of our privileges in prayer in order to pray for our friends and the world?

SATURDAY: TRUST IN HIM

1 Peter 2:6 For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

1.  GC – We partake of all the promises of the gospel through faith – ‘trust’. Trust brings us into redemption and new life, but we need to remember the gospel daily to keep it fresh in our hearts.

2.  UP – How often do you express your trust in Jesus. Particularly when suffering, one needs to speak out trust. (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

3.  IN – Let’s seek God to help the church to build on the ‘chosen and precious cornerstone’. A great way is to ensure that He is this to you and become an example of devotion to those around you in the church.

4.  OUT – No ‘shame’. Those who trust in the ‘cornerstone’ will never be embarrassed by God. We need never fear that the gospel will turn out to have been an empty fable. It’s unbelievers who will be ‘put to shame’. Let’s be unashamed of Jesus. (Romans 1:16)